Long way from home
by twoidiotsinlove
Summary: After the sacrfice Emma has disappeared leaving Regina desperate to find a way to bring her back. It turns out to be a rather difficult task.


_**A/N: Post 4B, set 4 days after the sacrifice, my take on what season 5 might bring. Swan Queen is totally going to happen at some point ;)**_

Belle sat in the library leaning against one of the bookshelves in the history section and was just about to finish reading a chapter about the Ogre wars when the doorbell rang and ripped her out of her thoughts. She felt disoriented for a second and tried placing the aggressive clicking of high heels that was coming towards her. She didn't have to figure it out though as the intruder had already found her.

Regina Mills was standing in front of her looking nothing like herself at all. She was wearing a grey suit that would have looked stunning if it weren't for her messy hair and the dark circles under her eyes. The brunette was standing above her starring but not saying a word and after a while Belle was too confused by the situation to be quiet any longer.

"Can I help you?" she asked standing up as gracefully as her short dress allowed her to. Even with her own high heels the petite woman had to look up to catch Regina's gaze.

Finally Regina snapped out of her thoughts and answered. "Yes. At least I hope you can."

Belle was truly concerned as she waited for Regina to explain. The other woman took another moment trying to calm down from the anxious state she seemed to be in.

"You need to help me save Emma."

* * *

A few minutes later Belle had gotten the gist of what Regina was trying to say.

"So you want to free Emma of the darkness but true love's kiss is not an option because it isn't save for Henry and Killian got himself off the hook by leaving Storybrooke."

"Most literary yes" Regina mumbled nodding. She was still angry at the seemingly useless pirate for just sailing away after he had realized that Emma had now turned into the dark one. Regina wasn't even sure whether a kiss would have worked to break the spell, probably not considering how ruthlessly Hook had left Emma, but without him she had still lost a chance to save her. She had little else ideas which was why she had come to Belle for help.

"And now you want me to find another way" Belle summarized while already pondering over whether she had read anything relevant to the issue.

"Indeed"

"Alright I'll help" Belle smiled compassionately at Regina.

"Just give me a little time" she added and wandered off picking several books from the shelves as she went. Regina wasn't truly satisfied but she decided not to blame Belle for her own impatience. After all it was not her fault she had hardly been sleeping the last four days resulting in her nerves being ready to go off every second.

"Just call me when you find anything" Regina politely replied and left the library to head towards Granny's diner where she was supposed to meet Henry for lunch.

It was a warm Monday noon and if the situation were different she would have taken her son out to the stables today. She could never get enough of seeing Henry on Flash, his horse which he had named after one of his comic book heroes. Not long ago they had first ridden out together, Regina riding a beautiful brown steed that reminded her of her childhood horse Rocinante. It had been one of the happiest days in Regina's life and she had shed a few tears of joy as her son was free to do what she had always had to hide from her mother. She had missed the feeling of riding freely and feeling the wind brushing through her hair, no worries able to follow as they dashed over fields and meadows.

But even this memory was blurred by the grey that had been clouding her life for four days now. It had left her numb as if she had disappeared into a void leaving her empty. The only thing left she could focus on was finding a way to bring Emma back. She had gone through every single book about dark magic she could find in the mansion but there had been no result.

At night she would lie awake holding the dagger which she had picked up that day no one denying it was hers to take. She had been on the edge of summoning Emma over and over again but she knew it wasn't the right thing to do. Emma had taken in so much darkness at once, all the darkness that had been too much for Rumpelstiltskin himself, and there was no way in predicting what it would do to her as she was not used to anything like it. Emma might have lost all control over her body and Regina could not allow herself to risk Henry's life. She had kept having the dagger a secret from him afraid he might summon his other mother the minute he found a way. Still she checked the dagger over and over again always in fear Emma's name might have faded or even vanished indicating she was hurt or worse. Regina reached for the dagger in her coat as she had almost arrived at Granny's. She needed to ensure Emma was alright one last time before she would focus her mind on Henry best she could.

The dagger felt light and cool in her hand as if it were trying to deny the power it truly held. Regina mindlessly traced the engraving on it.

 _Emma Swan_

It was still fully visible and Regina took a deep breath trying to relax her body but it didn't work. Exhausted she slid the dagger back into her coat and walked the last remaining steps before she entered the diner.

* * *

Henry was seated in one of the barstools starring into his glass with iced tea as if he was hoping it could relief him of his worries. He didn't notice Regina until she sat down beside him gently resting her hand on his back.

"Oh hey Mom" he said trying his best to smile but looking more like he had just bitten into a lemon.

"Hey" Regina replied softly unable to come up with anything else to say.

Her mind had been filled with nothing but magic, curses and worries over the last four days. She wondered whteher she should tell him about her visit at the library earlier both because he deserved to know and because she hardly had anyone else to talk to anyway. After a brief moment of consideration she decided against it. As the grandchild of the hopebreeding love birds Charming and Snow Henry was predestined to have hope even in devastating situations like this, Regina feared if she told him about her plans she might just about ignite that hope and disappoint him even more if nothing came out of it. If Belle would not find anything it would be a disaster as she had already run out of other options.

Regina tried to put those thoughts away and focus on her son instead.

"So how was Biology class, dear?" She asked trying her best to sound interested.

"Come on Mom. You know Grandma never actually does anything else than build bird houses right?" Henry huffed out still fixated on his drink.

"Well yes" Regina sighed. "I really should organize for an actual teacher to come here."

Henry finally looked up and smiled softly clearly still in pain.

"Yeah but you'd have to explain time travel, shape shifting and dark witches to them so I guess I'll be fine with the bird watching for now"

Regina smiled but couldn't think of anything else to talk about. She felt slightly relieved when their conversation was interrupted by her phone ringing. When she saw Belle's name pop up on the screen she rose from her seat.

"I'll be right back" she said to Henry and went outside to take the call.

"Have you found anything?" Regina asked right away not bothering with unnecessary formalities.

"I think I have. There is a spell that can cast the darkness out of Emma again."

"You want to free it?" Regina asked unsure whether Belle actually meant to curse the whole town with the black spaghetti monster that would destroy them all in record time.

"In a way yes" Belle replied. "I want to use the spell to untether it from Emma. However once you cast out the darkness it has to go somewhere else." Belle paused shortly and Regina's mind started spinning trying to follow what Belle was saying. Of course she could take the darkness herself but that would leave Henry without a mother again and herself back to the numbness of the dark inside her. There had to be a different option.

"The problem is that we can't just sacrifice someone else"

Regina had to admit that she had been about to consider that thought. No prize really seemed too high lately. But she knew it was not what Emma would have wanted and certainly not what Henry wanted either.

"It has to be broken" Belle said snapping Regina out of her thoughts.

"I'm sorry what has to be broken?"

"The chain of darkness. It was passed on from desperate soul to desperate soul creating monsters and dark souls. There is only one way."

"What is it?" Regina asked hope growing inside of her despite her efforts to surpress it.

"Not binding it to someone right away."

"I... I don't understand I thought you said the darkness had to be passed on." Regina was pacing in front of Granny's now.

"Yes and it's true but... it doesn't necessarily have to be in this realm."

"Are you saying we should bring it to another realm?"

"Not directly" Belle continued in her vague way of expression.

"Belle would you please just tell me what we have to do!" It took Regina all her strength not to yell.

"We have to create a portal. As soon as the dark magic is set free it will come to chase you as it did last time. You will then go through the portal and take the darkness with you. You will have to find a few people to come along. When you arrive on the other side they will keep you from being tempted into darkness. Then comes the difficult part."

"This wasn't the difficult part?" Regina asked worried over what was about to come.

"You will have to create a portal back but you can't take the darkness with you. You have to find someone to bind it to first."

"This sounds even more dangerous than the under cover plan."

"It is."

"Well but didn't you say we have to break the chain of darkness? That is not what we are doing at all is it?"

Belle shook her head blushing lightly until she realized Regina couldn't see her reaction.

"Not exactly" she explained, "but there will be no new harm anymore. I have found a realm that is made for the plan. It is called Valley of Ruins"

"Now that sounds rather cheerful" Regina said harshly raising her brows.

"It is a dark realm. There is nothing there except for ruins and a few monsters which is why it technically isn't morally wrong to bring the darkness there. It can't hurt anyone"

Regina sighed considering the plan and realizing it was absolute madness. Travelling realms with a literal cloud of darkness and then forcing the darkness into an evil monster was really not close to her idea of a comfortable week. She thought about Emma and Henry and quickly regained her determination.

"I'll do it" she said and added "I will come over for deatils in an hour."

With that she hung up the phone standing still for a moment.

"It will be worth it" she mumbled to herself before going back into the diner "It's what I have to do."


End file.
